Truth
by Lily and Shadow
Summary: What L, Mellow, Near, and Matt were like as children at Wammy's House. This follows them all the way through the end of the Kira investigation. Preseriespostseries, MelloNear, MelloMatt, RaitoL DISCONTINUED
1. Nightmare

**A/N:** Hola! So I've made quite a few changes to this chapter. The biggest and most noticable change is that Mello is no longer in the story at this point. Near is now 5 with a much more traumatic past. Matt is 8, just to clarify since I never really say. L is a little older than he was originally and while I have done a little to fix the age gap, it still isn't quite as much as in the series. If there are any noticable errors in my editing, please let me know. Thanks!

Thank you to Esoteric Memories, summer-loven-2, Rinna-kun, and twinkley-toes for reviewing! I've been giving it some thought, and I think I can work in a MelloxNear paring.

* * *

There was blood in his eyes, obstructing his vision as the knife plunged toward his small body. In fear he screamed for his parents, but they could no longer help him. His father and mother lay a few feet away, both dead. Finally the knife buried itself in his shoulder and with an inhuman shriek of pain the boy fell to his knees. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was his mother's dead eyes staring out at him from her bloodied face.

L sat bolt-upright, a thin, cold sweat covering his entire body. His breath came in shallow, ragged gasps and his hands shook as he wiped the moisture from his pale brow. Looking around the dark room he tried to shake off the dream. But it had been so vivid. L shook his dark-haired head as though in disappointment. It troubled him that he should still have these nightmares. His parents were dead; he knew that, he accepted that, and he was too old for these foolish nightmares.

His footfalls were soft on the carpeted floor as he made his way to the window. The stars were dim and a thin halo encircled the moon; it would rain tomorrow. Pausing, he turned back to look at the other small boys, both asleep. Near's shock of white hair was all that showed of him over the sheets as he clung to one of the three pillow with which he shared the bed. All of them were the same size as he was. Near was already five, but he could have passed for two. Matt lay sprawled across his bed, goggles and gloves discarded to the nightstand. One hand dangled over the edge of the bed, clutching a video game controller. His red hair was dishevelled and he had fallen asleep in his clothes again. He was even sloppy when he was asleep.

L smiled as he watched the two sleeping peacefully. Padding back to his bed, he picked up a book of short stories in his native German. L's father had been German and his mother Japanese. He had grown up in Germany learning to read and speak both languages. Now, however, he lived in England at the Wammy's House for Gifted Orphans. Even though he had spoken no English when he had arrived six years earlier, he now spoke more fluently than some of his instructors. He plopped down onto the bed, deciding on a different book. This one was a crime novel in Russian. Although he was only ten years old, L could already read and speak eight languages fluently or nearly fluently.

Skimming the pages with incredible ease, he mused to himself as he read. Four years ago, when his parents had been murdered and he had been brought here, his past and his identity had been erased. When he had come here, frightened and alone, they had called him lucky. Lucky because the blade that had pierced his shoulder had missed the vital organs and arteries by a mere fraction of a centimetre. Lucky because he was still relatively sane, they had ventured so far as stable, even after seeing his parents brutally murdered and then being viciously attacked himself. Lucky. He was the only one who didn't find it fitting.

What he did find fitting was that he was being groomed to become a detective. He had been selected by the head of the house himself. Watari had hand-picked him for this training. It had started when he first arrived. They had begun with puzzles and games, giving him riddles to solve. When he was only five he could already solve puzzles even his testers struggled with. Recently they had begun giving him puzzles involving crimes. They told him they were fake, but he knew otherwise.

L looked over his book at Near and Matt. Watching them dream peacefully made him slightly more okay with his situation. It was one of the things that kept him from falling apart, his companionship with these two. Many years ago he had stopped believing in God, but for a brief moment it seemed as though perhaps fate had put him in this place.

These boys were much like him. They were the best and brightest at the home and they were being trained in the same way he was. As a result L felt that he could relate to them to some extent. Of course, all of them had lost their families, but the manner in which their loved ones died was widely varied.

Matt was a mystery. He could barely have been three years old when he was brought in and had been found wandering the streets in Italy. No one knew who he really was or where he had come from, or even how he had survived on his own. When he arrived he hadn't matched any missing persons reports from anywhere. In addition he refused to speak of anything that had happened to him. Matt's past was permanently hidden. L studied the scarred little hand holding the black plastic controller. The scars were another part of the mystery. When he had come in his hands and wrists already bore the distinct marks of old injuries in addition to the hideous open wounds that had covered them, looking for all the world as though he had been repeatedly subjected to severe burnings. The wounds had since healed, but none of the marks had ever faded. As a result Matt always wore thin black gloves during the day. The strange boy was also extremely light-sensitive and wore tinted goggles to protect his eyes. Looking at the small gloves and dark goggles on the table beside the bed L knew it would be pointless to ask questions; he had tried several times before.

Near had arrived barely four months earlier, but had spent two in the hospital before that. His history was less mysterious, but no more pleasant. The small boy came from a modest Scottish family. He had been the victim of frequent beatings from the time he was old enough to walk and speak. And of course that hadn't been very old at all. His mother had died in childbirth, leaving Near, his sister, and their older brother to be raised by their father. His siblings were kind to him, he said. They protected him whenever and however they could. His father, however, was unspeakably cruel to his children. He blamed Near for his wife's death, and he made sure the boy knew exactly how he felt about it. The man was often drunk and always angry. He was also a heavy smoker, which would prove fatal for him and two of the children. He had passed out one night, a lit cigarette in his hand. By the time the children woke, the house was already engulfed in flame. Near's brother had tossed him from a second floor window and gone back for their sister. Neither made it out. The tiny boy survived, but his right leg was broken in several places, not all of them from the fall. In the end, his leg never healed correctly and the trauma that had been his life left him with some very odd habits. As a result of his injury Near preferred to stay inside with Matt, whose light sensitivity kept him indoors, rather than venturing outside with the other children. He had developed a certain fondness for Matt, who he claimed resembled his brother. Even so, the two hardly interacted and Near preferred to spend his time on jigsaw puzzles while Matt played video games.

One particularly interesting for L was that Near was said to be exceptionally intelligent, even among Wammy's House children. In fact, he was said to be second only to L himself. Not that Matt was too far behind.

It was funny, the bond the three had. When Matt had first arrived he would speak only to the second newest resident, L. Of course, L had not spoken Italian and Matt knew neither Japanese nor German, but somehow they still managed to communicate. It was not surprising, therefore, that aside from English Italian had been L's first new language and Matt, in exchange, had picked up German. The red head had yet to master Japanese. When Near had arrived, trembling, frail, and mute, he had clung to Matt like a lost puppy. For the week he had refused to let anyone else near him. A week later, with Matt's urging, Roger and L were able to get close to him, but he flinched at any sort of physical contact from anyone besides Matt. By two months Matt and L were still the only ones who had heard him speak. As far as Roger and the others knew he remained completely mute even now.

L sighed as he set his book down. Sleep was gnawing at the edges of his mind. He was almost afraid to fall asleep again, but he knew he could not let the nightmares defeat him. He watched the two boys sleeping peacefully for a few moments more before lying down and instantly falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	2. Hacked

**A/N:** Hola! So about this chapter. It's nothing like the original chapter two. I love Matt! I just had to get that out there. And Near is freakishly observant. And yay for L's passtimes. He'll prove that more later, but still. The next chapter is going to be great fun!

Thank you to Rinna-kun for reviewing!

**Disclaimer:** Death Note's NOT MINE.

* * *

"Matt?" Near said looking up from his legos. 

"Hm?" Matt replied as he shot at a zombie on screen. Honestly Near couldn't see anything worthwhile about video games.

"What do you think L's doing?" he asked.

Matt shrugged. "Dunno. Why?"

"I never see him during the day," the tiny boy said. He stood and limped to the big window before collapsing to the floor again. "He's never outside with the other children, and he's usually not in here with us. I've checked our room and the library, but he's never in there either. I was just curious."

Matt paused his game and turned to look back at Near. A mischievous grin was plastered across his freckled face. "You wanna find out?"

Near hesitated, then nodded. Matt offered him a gloved hand and led him back up to their room. Within two minutes he had pulled his laptop from under his bed and begun typing furiously. The white haired boy just watched in fascination as the elder groaned at the computer screen.

"Oh man. This is gonna take way longer than I thought," Matt muttered. Near settled at his feet and pulled a board over from next to his bed. It had a huge, unfinished jigsaw puzzle on it.

After an hour Near had solved the puzzle twice and by the time another half hour had passed he had two thirds of it done with the brown backing facing up.

"Yes! Got it!" Matt exclaimed, nearly stepping on Near as he jumped up.

"Got what?" Near asked.

Matt sat down next to him and showed him the screen. An impish grin worked its way across his face. "There."

And indeed one of the four windows open on the screen displayed their older counterpart crouched behind a desk reading what appeared to be a psychology book in one of the study rooms in the attic. In the panel next to that one they could see Roger reading a book in his office. In the kitchen they watched the cook making dinner for that night. The final screen showed the main gates where a black car had just pulled up.

"You hacked the security system?" Near asked, astounded.

"Yep," Matt answered smugly. Only eight and already a computer genius.

"You shouldn't have done that," Near reprimanded with awe on his voice. "Roger will be mad."

"Roger won't –" Matt froze. "Shoot."

Roger had vanished from his place on the screen. Matt switched to the camera in the hall outside their room. Sure enough, there was Roger.

"Matt, you can open the door any time now," Roger called calmly from his place in the hall. "I know you're watching me, so there's no use in playing innocent."

There was an audible click as Matt closed his computer before slinking over to the door, head hung warily.

"Matt," Roger said once the door had been opened. "While I applaud you on the accomplishment of hacking the Wammy's security system, I would advise you against trying it again. First and foremost because your actions were, as I am sure you already know, highly inappropriate. Second because the people who designed that system have been alerted and they are working to correct the problem." With that he turned and walked back to the door. When he reached it he paused, speaking without looking back. "If you want more practice hacking, try a government system. Any country will do. They're all a bit overconfident. They could stand a shock before a real threat shows up. Though you might want to pick one Wammy's works with. We don't want you starting a war."

As the door clicked shut Matt turned to stare incredulously at Near. Roger had just given him permission to hack the security of pretty much any country he wanted. He didn't have long to dwell on this, however, as his thoughts were interrupted by a muffled shout from reopened computer. It seemed they had a new arrival.


	3. Arrival

**A/N:** Hola! Well this is officially farther than I've gotten in this story before! Yay! And yes, Mello time. Yay. Matt and Near really aren't in this at all, but they'll be back. And I looked up the ages and I have them wrong. Mello is oldest, then Matt, then Near with a year between each, but that's alright. Mello, by the way, is 7 in this story. Matt is 8, Near is 5, and L is 10. I'll figure out how all that works out later.

Thank you to Rinna-kun and Alanna-twins for reviewing.

* * *

"Let me go!" the blonde boy screamed as loud as he could, struggling to free himself from the men carrying him. Not that they could understand him. He was screaming in Polish. "Don't you dare touch me! LET ME GO!!!

He managed to kick one of them hard in the side, earning him a pained grunt. When he tried to slip another set of hands closed more tightly around his thin arms. He was led inside the large building and up two flights of stairs. The whole way there he cursed and kicked and screamed and punched and bit as much as possible until one of the men told him something he couldn't understand in a threatening tone. He decided maybe it was best to shut up for the moment, since he didn't know who these men were or what they were capable of. He could figure out a way to escape when it became necessary.

Finally they stopped in front of a big wooden door. There was a plaque on the door that said Roger Ruvie. It looked like perhaps a name and he assumed this was someone important. His blue eyes widened to an impossible size. This must be their boss. First the people at the police station _let_ them kidnap him, then he was taken to God knows where and brought to some higher up. This must be the mafia. There must have been some kick back for the police for letting them have him. He didn't even want to _think_ about why they wanted him.

The man behind the door was seated at a large desk, smiling benevolently at him. One of the men told him something in an angry tone and the man answered him with a voice of concern.

"Well do you know what language he's speaking? Perhaps there's someone here who can translate," Roger suggested. The file said he came from the Netherlands, but that didn't mean he would necessarily speak Dutch. After all, they had picked him up from a police station in Russia.

"I have no idea," the man grumbled in a heavy accent. "The guys at the police station said he was kidnapped or something."

"Or something," Roger nodded grimly. He already had the boy's file. The or something wasn't all that pleasant.

" Let me go!" the boy demanded once more. He didn't care if this guy was a big shot. He just wanted whatever was going to happen to be over and done with.

"Polish," Roger said. "But our teacher is gone for the week." He paused for a moment. Then something else occurred to him. "L is upstairs in the last study room. Ryder, go get him please."

The other man gave him an odd look and Roger just smiled. The blonde boy had begun thrashing once more, although not as violently as before. Roger noticed this and came around his desk to try to comfort him. This, however, was a mistake. As soon as the older man came near, the blonde kicked him viciously. Roger merely frowned and backed up. He did not get angry and he did not harm the boy in anyway, much to the blonde's surprise.

Two minutes later Ryder returned with L in tow and both of the men who had brought him in left the room. Roger led the dark haired prodigy to a chair on the other side of the room, making sure to give the blonde a wide berth so that he could not injure the appointed translator. L sat, pulling his knees up to his chest and staring at the blonde boy with wide, curious eyes.

The blonde froze. The boy who had just walked in was about his age, maybe a couple of years older. He seemed completely at ease around the older men. This changed things. This boy, there was something odd about him. And then the older man said something to him and he began to speak.

"Hello. My name is L," he said calmly.

The blonde blinked a few times. He could understand him. "You speak Polish?"

The boy nodded. "I am to act as a translator for now. Roger asks me to inform you that you are to be called Mello."

"But I have a name," 'Mello' protested.

"I know," L said gently. "But you are starting over here. For now you will be called Mello. You will not tell anyone here your real name. The only people who know your name are Roger and Wammy."

"Who is Wammy?" Mello asked.

"Wammy is the one who had you brought here," L answered. "He is the one who has gathered all of us here."

"So he's the leader? Where are we? What do you want from me?"

L turned and repeated the string of questions to Roger who shook his head sadly. Then the black eyed boy turned his focus back to the blonde in front of him. "Wammy is like a grandfather to all of the children here. This is an orphanage."

Mello's heart froze. "Orphanage?"

L nodded. The boy didn't know. It was written in his eyes.

"But I'm not..." Mello protested weakly. "My family... my sister... where is my sister?"

L turned to Roger. "He's asking about his family. He wants to know where his sister is."

"His family was killed," Roger said softly. "The people who took him killed his parents that night. His sister died later on. They had him for a little over a year. She only lasted four months."

And L was out of the chair to kneel in front of the boy. As gently as he could he said, "They are gone."

"No!" Mello choked, sinking to his knees. L caught him and held him. He knew how it felt to lose your family. He knew what it was like to watch someone you cared for die. The boy radiated pain in waves and L guessed that he knew at least close to what the boy was thinking.

"L," Roger said quietly. "His sister was younger by two years."

L held the boy tighter. So that was why he had asked about her in particular. He was the oldest sibling. It was his duty to protect his sister and she had been killed. There was grief, there was survivor's guilt, there was a sense of personal failure because he couldn't defend his little sister, there was the trauma of everything that had happened during his captivity, there was so much he needed to work through.

Surprisingly Mello did not fight L's embrace. That was almost as shocking to Roger as the fact that L had hugged someone who wasn't Matt or Near. Usually the raven haired boy avoided any sort of physical contact. Upon further inspection he found that the blonde boy was sobbing silently into L's shoulder.

"Mello" Roger said, more to L than to Mello. "I'd like to have Ryder show you to your room. Let's let L get back to his studying."

"It's alright Roger," L said in English. Then he turned back to Mello and switched to Polish. "Roger wants Ryder to take you to your room. Is that okay?"

Mello shook his head. "I want to stay with L," he said flatly.

"Why?" the dark haired boy asked.

"Because L is kind. L won't hurt me. L won't let those men hurt me. And L understands me when I talk," Mello explained, trying to keep the hysteria out of his voice.

L looked up at Roger with an almost pleading expression.

"What did he say?" the older man asked.

"He wants to stay with me," L said, sounding more astounded than Roger looked. "He says I won't hurt him and that I won't let those men, I assume he means Ryder and Driscoll, hurt him. And he says it's because I can understand what he's saying."

Roger considered this for a moment. "I don't see the problem then. Those rooms are made to house four people anyway. As long as he doesn't mind Matt and Near it should be alright."

"Perhaps you should send someone to tell them what happened," L suggested, glancing at Mello who seemed to be permanently attached to his arm.

Roger just chuckled warmly. "If I'm not mistaken, they already know."

L was about to ask how when he saw the grey haired man wave at the camera hidden in a corner. Sighing he rolled his eyes. Matt.

* * *

**A/N:** I'll explain the language weirdness with Mello later. He was supposed to be from the Netherlands originally, but then he ended up Polish. And Ryder and Driscoll both have names that mean 'messenger.' Just a point of interest. 


	4. Puzzle

**A/N:** Hola! Yay, the who group is finally together for the first time. I love Matt. He's just so blatantly... Matt. Ok, that didn't make sense, but you know what I mean. And yay for cuteness. Go ahead and enjoy it now. They have to grow up sometime... So Near's almost creepy here. He's five and already eerily analytical in his thinking. Anyway...

Thank you to Rinna-kun and killer bunny for reviewing!

**Disclaimer:** Is it mine now? No. (You know those phone commercials? I'm really tired...)

* * *

Matt and Near were standing at the door when L brought Mello up to their room. Well, Matt was at the door. Near was crouched in the middle of the floor still working on a puzzle. Ryder and Driscoll had already brought up the bed that would be for Mello. Admittedly the room felt a little cramped now, but that was only because they were used to so much space. Both boys were curious about the newest Wammy resident, but Matt showed it far more than Near.

When the door opened it was L they saw first. The black haired boy was leading the blonde, seemingly shielding him.

"So who's the new kid?" Matt asked anxiously.

"His name is Mello," L answered. "He's scared and he doesn't speak English. Please don't scare him."

As the blonde stepped shyly out from behind L Matt waved enthusiastically. Near finally looked up from his puzzle to watch the blonde boy watching him. The boy had long hair, down to his shoulders, and his eyes were a bright, clear blue. He was dressed all in black, as though in mourning. But that made sense, Near reasoned. After all, that was how they all ended up in this place. He reminded Near of a frightened rabbit, the way he was trembling with grief and terror. In the hand that wasn't attached to L's shirt he held a black teddy bear with only one eye. The bear was absolutely filthy, but that could be fixed. Near guessed that the boy was from either north eastern Europe or Russia.

Mello stared at the boy in the centre of the floor. He was watching him. But he looked strangely like this 'L' who had been so kind to him. Except that he was all white. L was pale, but this kid was just ridiculous. His skin, his hair, he even dressed in white. His eyes, though, were pure black. There was absolutely no colour about him. And he sat with one leg pulled up to his chest and the other curled back beside him. That just looked like it should hurt.

"What language does he speak?" Near asked quietly.

At about the same time Mello asked "Who is the white boy?"

L just glanced between the two of them. "His name is Near," L told Mello. Switching questions and languages L turned back to Near. "He speaks Polish."

"What did he just ask you?" Near asked.

"Your name," L told him, waiting to see his reaction. Near smiled and waved the boy over to him. Hesitantly Mello let go and made his way over to the pale boy. L, meanwhile, took Matt out in the hall to ask how he had hacked the computer system.

Left to their own devices Near and Mello watched each other with uncertainly. Near said something Mello couldn't understand and Mello told him so in words that made no sense to Near. After another few minutes of staring at each other, near went back to his puzzle. Mello watched him quietly for a moment. Near was surprised when and unfamiliar hand laid down a piece right next to the one he had just placed. He looked up and into Mello's ice blue eyes and for a moment they both smiled.

When L and Matt came back it was to find Near and Mello both working in silence on the nearly complete puzzle. Although they did not speak there was a sense of understanding between them. L just smiled and looked at Matt. "So what was this about you and Near spying on me while I studied?" he said, leading Matt to the den where he and Near usually spent the day.

Near and Mello barely noticed the door closing again. Both were too wrapped up in the puzzle and the teamwork to notice.


End file.
